beastmakerblog

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Board availability

The 1000 series will be available from the 12th of May online, so for those of you waiting for one of these you shouldn't be waiting much longer.

More 2000 series will be available from this point onwards aswell, Currently the back order is at the 4th of March, the next batch will be arriving from the 11th May. And they will take us into April. Production is due to increase from mid June onwards. As are web articles, vids of hard/new blocs and alot of training features/ideas/feats

It is after this point we aim to deal with select retail outlets nationwide.

Robert the brute

Monday, April 27, 2009

Going underground...

Fingerboard info before ramblings:33% of the company work force is competing in World Cups this week, so i will be doing my best, apologies for any ineptitude which may result.

We are not far off being able to sell the first batch of 1000 Series, as we are finally happy with them so they are to be milled this week.

The 2000 elite is our next little development project, (as are trialling new woods), we hope that the 2000 elite will be almost so hard its useless to 90% of the climbing population as this should enable the next generation of crushers to progress and 'realize' strength which has never been seriously attempted and thought about other than for the odd freak move, Ned reckons 47/8 degree slopers will go, which stands to reason as he can piss the 45s, the extra 3 degrees being provided by friction. i reckon rounded 1 arm 5mm drag deadhands will go one day, so they are going on etc. etc.

On my penultimate climbing day in Torridon Richie showed me a project in a cave which Lie O' Connor had mentioned as being futuristic! 2 weathered flakes immediately dropped off to leave perfect 1 pad sidepull edges, and a 30 degree wall which cuts away at the base, basically a dream line unfolded which is totally featureless save for the holds, i.e. a board problem but on rock, AMAZING! no tricks no nothing just pure power. I decided to gamble and try this rather than the arete project up the hill which i knew would go (ever the armchair visionary) I rested up the next day by attempting to swim in a variety of seas and water courses only to be smote by cramp within minutes, i was not ready for such pain and shrinkage; so driving round some of the nicest roads in the country in the 200bhp VRS had to suffice. Oh Well...Come the next day i was ready for battle, the stand went at 8aish, then a slight adjustment to the foot sequence turned it into a nice 7c! (just shows how much these things matter) What with it being an amazing problem which climbs out a cave it was only fair to name it 'Robert the Brute' It then took me a further 20minutes to pull on in a crouched position from 1 move lower, i couldn't have been any happier! then after a few more goes i was exploding wildly onto the stand up hold but, in reality nowhere near holding it. To me this project represents another level of power which lies somewhere around hard 8G. It is also a joy to find 8G moves on such a pure piece of rock.

With that and a brief recce to the south lakes on the way down i feel it is time to stick my neck back in and to work hard at finding another level from somewhere, i think over the past year i've begun to see where this would come from but i haven't tapped into it, so i'm keen to explore those paths, take a step back for a while and to see whether theory can be put into practice.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Scottish streams of consciousness

So i popped to Torridon for a few days last week (a mere 5 and a half hour jaunt), i am unsure whether to write a trip report or a holiday guide/article as i feel alot of people won't have a clue where or what i'm on about. It is the armchair explorers paradise, as the first boulders are roadside, it soon turns into a haystack as you search the hill for Queen lines ;) as you can't see the problems for the rock. Fuvvamore it is also a good place to chill out as the youth hostel/ camping is 2 minutes walk from the nearest boulder problems. Basically i had my eye on 4 previously spied lines. I arrived to warm temps which would usually have most people complaining but my dry skin was just about coping ok, i got stuck into the really steep arete project after warming up on & around Vapour Trail, this had culminated in me finding my pant filling zone at about 7m with 2pads and no spotters, (resulting in emergency crimp being unleashed on holds far too big to warrant its official use) Classic! my trip had been made already.Anyhow, said arete was steep and bulbous, she was big on the footholds but was scrimping back on the grips. After trying to use all the beautiful holds for about half an hour i settled for skipping most of them and firing to a slopey pinch/sidepull at full extension and waiting for my heel to bite, the rest is compression wobbliness off bountiful pleasure. That's jolly nice i thought, so i packed up and walked home; yeah right, i took five and smashed it in the goolies whilst enjoying every second. 'A fridge too far' was the first victim of the trip and i doubt it warrants more than 7c+. For peak aficionados it's basically a longer and harder version of the well known 7b+/c 'The Terrace'I then hurt my finger a bit trying to repeat it for the camera, so i sacked things off for the day and pondered what tomorrow would bring. (pics from Richie Betts and Mike Lee, Cheers guys)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Tales from Wales

Its nice to get out and about and try new problems. I get pretty bored trying the same things over and over again and lately I have been putting a bit of time into a tricky roof (Ned’s average description of climbing font 8b’s. Dan). Anyway that got finished off so I was free to go exploring.

We decided a trip to Wales was in order, then we decided we needed another one etc. We have been getting there quite a bit recently and have been getting a few classic problems done along the way.

The caseg boulder is home to some of the most font like rock this side of the channel, with lovely sloping holds that are a joy to pull on. Anyone climbing in the 7c region needs to go and do main vein. It is the best problem in wales. How can essentially a 2 move problem be so good? Go and do it and you will see.

Another amazing problem is the the caseg groove. I was lucky enough to bag the sitter to this just as it was getting dark (and conditions became better than terrible). The difficulties in the problem lie in moving your feet beween bad smears while pulling on slopers. The crux (for me) succumbed to a ninja kick foot move, which fired the left foot on to a smear as the right foot shot off its own foothold. Brilliant! The only thing keeping me on the rock was a few mm of (stealth) rubber and my core, tensed to the point of hernia.

Another venue we visited is the gop. This hardcore little roof was developed by the Cattell’s – no points for guessing how hard you will have to pull there. After a quick warm up I managed to bag the classic pinching problem ‘Push the button’, followed by Thompson and Mason. Next port of call was the sit start to blokesmoker (genius problem naming from danny). This fell to a basic sequence after I spent 20 mins trying to crowbar some technique into a basic power problem. Will I ever learn? Thompson and Mason also did the deed (after much fannying about!).

Between these 2 problems is a project of Doylo’s. He kindly let me unleash on it and after figuring out the moves I managed to not link it! I will be back….

Friday, April 17, 2009

Torridon rehab

More to come on this one, needless to say i fully lucked out on the weather, and climbed my little heart out for 3 days, leaving a trail of lovely new blocs which have helped steer me out the doldrums and up some mighty Sandstone prows... Jealous? i hope you are?

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

New Vid

I thought i'd clear up a bunch of old vids that were lying about on my pc before getting all the HD vids sorted. This one is dedicated to failure, which lets face it, is most of what climbing is all about. Here's to all the nearlys and aaalmosts.

All the bouldering is in Northumberland and is 7cish or above. No prizes for guessing the last problem featured (yes that is how it climbs (or how i climbed it anyway))

Friday, April 3, 2009

upgrades

Spring has fully sprung and its upgrading time here at beastmaker hq, we're all set to crush the last of our back order and hopefully develop some surplus stock for once. We've been chuffed with people hunting us out though. Just to support our theory further Ned has crushed several 8a-8b blocs in the past month, including the third ascent of Serenity and 2nd known ascent of the menace at Sheep Pen which isn't bad for someone who whinges about his Ghetto booty.The site is gradually being sorted out secretly and an online payment facility will emerge from the shadows once we have some surplus stock.For myself it was back to the one and only Queens today to try the sitter to Arc Royal, and without a doubt the complete line. Initial strength wilted and i only managed 1 go of getting into the crux of the original before total spanktown reared its ugly head. As well as a bruised tip OUCH! This is an absolute euro monster line and not usually my style (i prefer brick hard slap you in the face moves)So project/ yard brush time was called and queens now has another 2 >8a projects to go at, these puppies are savage crimp central and both are awesome lines.Tom also managed the 5th ascent of queen kong via an impressive sequence of gangly cutlooses. I also found out that i can retro flash this problem with more than a year off it. Leading me to conclude that my latest project is somewhat taxing and also that QK is one of my all time favourite boulders.